Why Zach Bryan’s New Album Won’t be Released Until 2026
Zach Bryan has announced the release date for his upcoming album called With Heaven On Top, and some are wondering why they’re having to wait until 2026 to hear it. Originally teased as an EP all the way back in early February when Zach said it would be out “sooner than not,” Bryan has officially announced that the release date will be January 9th, 2026. He’s also released a new song called “Madeline” featuring Gabriella Rose to coincide with the announcement.
Zach Bryan also released three new songs as part of an “EP” on July 2nd that included “Streets of London,” “River Washed Hair,” and “A Song For You.” No indication yet if these three songs will be on With Heaven On Top, nor do we have a track list for the new album, or confirmed info if it will be EP or LP length. With such a long wait time though, it’s a good bet it will be an LP. Zach’s also teased the title track of the album with a snippet of audio.
Why Is It Taking So Long?
The big question many Zach Bryan fans are asking is, why is it taking so damn long to release the new album, especially after Zach teased it as far back as February? Though this isn’t confirmed, it likely has to do with the fact that Zach Bryan signed an eye-popping $350 million deal with Warner Records in May that involved him guaranteeing the label at least two more full-length records, as well as the sale of his publishing catalog.
Previous to announcing the deal, Zach Bryan had complained about wanting to get out from underneath Warner’s thumb, in part because of how hard it was to record and then release songs and albums almost instantaneously like Zach Bryan desires to do. Bryan has also showed interest in recording more cover songs and tribute records, including an album of Jason Isbell songs.
So how might all of this play into why it’s taking half a year for Zach Bryan’s new album With Heaven On Top to see the light of day?
It often takes major record labels about six months from the time they’re delivered a finished album before they’re officially ready to release it. A lot of this lead time is tied into vinyl manufacturing and distribution, but it also helps with marketing and planning for the label.
The Holiday Factor
In truth, Warner might be able to go through this process a little quicker—especially for an artist the size of Zach Bryan. After all, they’ve done these rush releases for Zach before, though I’m sure to the grumbles of Warner employees being push into overtime, and pushing aside other projects and priorities to get it done.
But no major label wants to release a big, blockbuster album during the holiday season, meaning late November through New Years. The entire music industry converts over to Christmas music during this time, and it’s also when much of the industry takes vacation. So even if they could get With Heaven On Top ready by late November or December, they’d rather wait until January when everyone’s back in the office.
Warner Records (and others) gave Zach Bryan $350 million. Though Zach very likely kept creative control over all of his music, the label also likely levied some concessions from Zach to agree to that sum. The largest was probably, “Dude, you’ve got to give us time once you turn in an album to actually market, package, and distribute it properly.”
Other Potential Reasons
Along with having enough time to get all the ducks in a row for a proper album release, having vinyl available on Day 1 of an album’s availability allows for a much bigger chart debut as opposed to digital only, or digital and CD.
There could be other reasons that Zach and Warner are waiting until early 2026 for the release. Perhaps they’re planning a big tour surrounding it. Perhaps there will be a documentary or film coinciding with the album release that will also take time to produced and finish—something Zach has teased as well.
Also, whenever Zach Bryan releases a song, EP, or album, people love to harp how he’s overshadowing other artists or his “friends” who happen to be releasing music the same week. Though this usually comes down to sheer coincidence, by announcing an album release so far in advance, this will create a deconfliction point with other performers. Also, the first week of January tends to be a dead time to release music.
Though all artists and their fans get excited about new music, the wheels of the music industry turn slow. It also is often prudent that however frustrating, to wait for those wheels to turn to get the optimum attention to the music the artist put their heart into creating. Warner also has reasons to make sure everything is aligned perfectly before a release. In Zach Bryan’s case, they have 350 million of them.
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July 18, 2025 @ 11:24 am
I don’t have to wait to hear it because I ain’t interested in hearing it.
Don’t worry ZB fans…I’m sure he’ll release two other albums between now and then.
July 18, 2025 @ 11:41 am
I need more Zach Bryan music like I need another hole in my t-shirt.
I mean, I really like the guy and a lot of his music. He’s partially responsible for introducing me to this genre and making me want to take a deep dive into other artists.
But the amount of music he puts out is ridiculous, across the proper releases, the EPs, the singles…it’s a lot of output. The wife cued up his most recent album on a road trip recently which was fine, but there’s too much Zach Bryan content to digest and get familiar with…and I don’t know if I’m alone in starting to wonder if it all sounds the same after awhile. I couldn’t differentiate any of that music with his prior album. The singles he’s put out recently, I’ve given them a listen but my initial impression was that they sound the same as anything else he’s ever done.
On one hand, being blessed with such a fertile mind for lyrics and storytelling is fantastic. And I’m well aware that this is the way music was released years ago, that Hendrix’s three landmark albums were all released within 18 months of each other, that the Beatles output between ’66 and ’70 is unmatched, same with Led Zeppelin and the Stones runs. But I can hear a Hendrix song off Electric Ladyland and understand the differences between that and something off Are You Experienced? I can hear something off The White album and know that it’s different than Abbey Road. To me, Zach Bryan puts out music for the sake of putting out music with little thought towards progression.
So I think having to wait until 2026 (a whopping 5+ months!!!) for the new Zach Bryan is a good thing. Yeah, we’re not getting a proper album this year, but he’s also released 8 singles in 2025. For some bands and artists, that represents an entire album, or close to it…I mean, we waited two years for 11 songs from the Turnpike Troubadours. Previous to that, there was a six year gap from 2017 to 2023 where their fans had to wait for 10 new songs.
Slow down and let it breathe, Zach.
July 18, 2025 @ 2:14 pm
The Beatles had internal competition between Lennon, McCartney and Harrison to write the best songs. I don’t see that Zach is having constructive pushback for his choice of lyrics and production. However you want to define his creative force, it needs to be polished up if he wants more respect from his peers and from musicians and music fans with more critical tastes.
July 18, 2025 @ 4:19 pm
Zach Bryan releases too much music. Zach Bryan needs a producer. Zach Bryan is boring. Zach Bryan’s songs all sound the same.
And still, he’s one of the most popular artists in all of music, and signed a $350 million deal—without the help of radio, awards shows, or the conventional corporate music infrastructure.
July 18, 2025 @ 6:57 pm
All of those things are true.
July 19, 2025 @ 7:28 am
I kinda get the core of his appeal but his popularity doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a bunch of amature mistakes in his finished productions and that he hasn’t reused the same chord progression on most of his songs. He’s also to blame for aspiring Gen Z artists wildly strumming their acoustic guitars with out-of-tune reckless abandon – the kind that would give anyone with a pre-war Martin Vietnam flashbacks.
July 19, 2025 @ 4:08 am
Spot on! I really like Zach…. Too much content to digest and to be honest a lot of it is boring now. Shorter, tighter albums would be nice. I am proud of the guy though. Taking a YouTube video series into being the top country act. That is impressive. His best album is the live one where his songs actually have a musical arrangement behind them.
July 18, 2025 @ 12:32 pm
I would think it’s label driven.
No idea what the terms of his contract are, but if you’re a musician getting a third of a billion dollars from a single source, you’re owned.
Selfishly, I hope that means “you take whatever creative direction you want, brother, but the days of low-fi, self-publicized records are over”.
The cynical side of me also says that 5 months probably gives his publicist enough time to find him another love interest to go viral with ahead of the release date.
July 19, 2025 @ 7:50 am
I mean, Elisabeth’s still pretty comfortably his best album, and that was recorded in a barn,
July 19, 2025 @ 11:34 am
Right, back when he was completely independent, on full time active duty, and chasing a dream, it made sense to record in a barn.
Now he’s a full time musician with NBA All Star money. Expectations and standards should be much higher.
While I liked DeAnn/Elisabeth in the context of his career, I always thought Quiet Heavy Dreams EP and American Heartbreak were his best work – and not coincidentally, his most polished.
S/T and Great American Bar Scene felt like a regression, IMO.
That’s not to say there haven’t been creative bright spots. I think song and video for “Nine Ball” was one of the best song/video packages I’ve seen in the past decade.
July 19, 2025 @ 6:15 pm
See, I agree on QHD and Summertime Blues, but American Heartbreak felt overlong, unfocused, and overproduced to me.
I’d rate it as when his sound truly became “same-y,” whereas DeAnn and Elisabeth made sure to keep their hooks distinct.
July 20, 2025 @ 7:21 am
American heartbreak was just… produced. Neither under produced nor overproduced. More or less the level I’d like to see most music by most artists.
That being said, don’t be surprised if Warner is like “no more guitars, and stop writing so western. People in ____ don’t connect to that.”
July 20, 2025 @ 10:39 am
Oh, you’re definitely right that it was too long and all over the place in terms of a coherent album theme.
My contention is that if you mentally trim that album down to your favorite 10-14 tracks, it’s head and shoulders above every release in his discography.
July 21, 2025 @ 5:08 am
See, 8 of my 10-14 favorite Zach Bryan tracks are Come as You Are, Heading South, Codeine Pills, Anita, Loom, Elisabeth, Washington Lilacs, and Revival, haha!
July 18, 2025 @ 12:36 pm
Not be outdone, Charlie Croquet will begin releasing an album a month.
July 21, 2025 @ 7:43 am
One could argue that Charley Crockett has put out a lot of releases, as well, and it’s a valid and fair point.
However, to counter that point:
For Zach Bryan:
American Heartbreak had 34 song
S/T had 16 songs
The Great American Bar Scene had 19 songs
These were all released within 26 months
In addition to a live album
An EP with 9 tracks (which is pretty close to a full-length album)
An EP with 5 tracks
and a handful of non-album singles
Compare that with Charley Crockett in that time period who has released
Jukebox Charley with 14 songs
The Man from Waco with 15 songs
$10 Cowboy with 12 songs
$10 Cowboy Visions of Dallas with 12 songs
1 song on the “Twisters” soundtrack
A live album
And I believe an EP of maybe some remixes from The Man From Waco (which I believe was 5 songs if I’m not mistaken)
Zach is well out-pacing Charley (and isn’t anywhere nearly as talented as Charley).
July 18, 2025 @ 1:07 pm
I’m officially burned out on Zach Bryan. Didn’t he say he was going to take a break from music to go to school or something?
July 18, 2025 @ 1:32 pm
He alluded to some of this. Then he got a check for $350 million.
July 21, 2025 @ 7:44 am
So he can afford to take a break and go to school or something…
July 18, 2025 @ 2:04 pm
He needs a break to go to music school.
July 20, 2025 @ 7:57 am
In academia, you can’t submit the same paper 300 times with the same success like you apparently can do with songwriting
July 18, 2025 @ 1:26 pm
I think you nailed it with physical production lead time. I’m sure there will be a preorder link shortly. Also – there are rumblings of a new Taylor Swift album in Q4, so releasing in January will avoid Taylor chart domination and the Christmas backlog.
July 18, 2025 @ 2:09 pm
A break seems like it would benefit him rather than watching him burn himself up on rotgut whiskey and adderal. (Don Williams song joke)
July 18, 2025 @ 6:37 pm
How about we not talk about him again until next year when he releases the album?
Sorry.
July 18, 2025 @ 7:34 pm
Can’t most of what’s being said about Zach be said about Charley? I like pushing the button and giving us a lot of music- young, talented- let’s go! Let’s hear it! Or we could be on the other side of it and release albums like Jamey, every decade or so. He has a sound- and his song’s are gonna have his sound- just like all artist. Dime store complaining against a dude that will be a defining member of this generations music in 25+ years
July 19, 2025 @ 1:33 am
…ain’t it somewhat decadent to complain about too much – in this case rather good – music? things like that are usually early signs of a peak.
July 21, 2025 @ 7:48 am
You have a loose definition of “rather good”
July 19, 2025 @ 6:12 am
Just guessing, but I think the reason is the label wants to do the current trend of releasing 5-6 singles before the album comes out. They want to keep Zach on the radar all summer. By the time the album is released most of it will already be out. But wait, the extended version and super duper versions will keep it going until the singles for the next album start coming out.
Warner is gonna ride Zach until everyone can’t stand to hear another song like Sony did Luke Combs.
July 19, 2025 @ 6:37 am
Are there any estimates as to what year/decade Warners will start making a profit from that deal?
July 19, 2025 @ 10:40 am
it’s because that’s how long it’s going to take him to learn a fourth guitar chord
July 19, 2025 @ 7:53 pm
Maybe Zac wants to ensure that THIS re-invention is successful,as least financially.
July 28, 2025 @ 4:57 pm
Different Zac
July 20, 2025 @ 2:05 pm
I don’t mind it. The gal has a pretty voice. She has some fun songs.
July 23, 2025 @ 2:55 am
I read this post about Zach before actually listening to the song Madeline, and have returned here since doing so. I feel everyone has an opinion about Zach, and there are a variety of tired, worn-out bugbears about him, which were highlighted by Trigger. I feel Zach writes songs like some people write diaries; he’ll go somewhere, he’ll see and experience something, there’ll be a lyrical turn of phrase, and the moment will be shared in a quickly released song.
In Madeline, I really like the line: “There’s a picture of us holding up a pitcher of favourite beer. I’m trying to slow down this year. They can’t hold it like I used to.” It’s relatable, personal, and carries weight in its simplicity. I say this because, even in the songs that are lo-fi and underproduced, there’s so often a turn of phrase or a lyric that hits.
From a human perspective, I don’t know how Zach will adjust, should it be necessary for him to do so, to not being able to share songs which are like a blog post; remarkably relevant in the very present moment, but maybe less so when it comes to a albums which need to be bigger, statements of intent, musical identity, and ambition. Whereas for him, I think songs are reflections of moments that are relevant to him, and I like and admire that.
Ultimately, listen to him or don’t listen to him. But he does his own thing, and who are we to judge how someone wants to share their own music?
July 23, 2025 @ 8:33 pm
Is there anyway he can push it back to late 2027 or 2028?